Wherever he goes, there he is unafraid.. Wherever he sleeps, there he is unalarmed! The nights and days does neither touch nor burn him. He sees nothing in this worldthat is to be kept or lost.. Therefore his mind dwells in goodwill and gentle kindness towards all beings until he falls asleep.SN I 110

Wherever he goes, there he is unafraid.. Wherever he sleeps, there he is unalarmed! The nights and days does neither touch nor burn him. He sees nothing in this worldthat is to be kept or lost.. Therefore his mind dwells in goodwill and gentle kindness towards all beings until he falls asleep.SN I 110

I have been reading a talk by Ajahn Sumedho called “Religious Convention and Sila Practice”. He says:

“One night, we were sitting in our forest monastery in Thailand meditating, when I heard an American pop song that I really hated when I was a layman. It was being blasted out by one of those medicine sellers who go to all the villages in big vans with loudspeakers that play this kind of music in order to attract the villagers to come and buy their quacky medicines. The wind was blowing in the right direction and the sound of ‘Tell Laura I Love Her’ seemed right here in the meditation hall itself. I hadn’t heard American pop music for so many years, so while this smarmy sentimental song was playing I was actually beginning to cry! And I began to recognise the tremendous emotional pull of that kind of music. If you don’t really understand it, it grabs your heart and you get caught up in the excitement and emotion of it. This is the effect of music when you’re not mindful.”

I had never heard of this song before and was intrigued as to what might have made the ajahn hate it so much. Searching Youtube I learned that there are in fact several versions of it. I expect Ajahn Sumedho would have been listening to the original of 1960. This was sung by a certain Ray Peterson — a notable early triumph for American pioneers of artificial intelligence. Though the whole of the USA was hoodwinked into accepting "Ray" as a real person, he was eventually revealed to be merely a singing robot constructed from thermoplastic polymer fibres.

Ray Peterson - Tell Laura I Love Her.jpg (121.8 KiB) Viewed 586 times

Having now listened to several versions, my verdict is that the best of the lot is an unsentimental Scottish adaptation by Billy Connolly. In this version the tragic ballad’s outcome is reversed: instead of Tommy it’s Laura who ends up splattered.

Charming, isn’t it? It’s the sort of song one could happily listen to all day and night.

In fact I’ve recently started using the Ovaltineys’ song as background to my daily boxing and aerobic workout. Like many an amateur pugilist I had previously been working out to the tune of Soomaaliyeey toosoo (“Wake Up, Somalia!”), which is the old national anthem of Somalia. Unfortunately the Somalian government abolished the old anthem, replacing it with an astonishingly boring new one called Qolobaa Calankeed (“Our Nation’s Flag”). There’s no way in the world that I’m going to box and pump to a dull-as-ditchwater dirge like that! The new anthem’s sole merit, as far as I can see, is that it’s insipid enough not to arouse the wrath of the more volatile strains of Mussulmen that infest that poor country.

So, it’s farewell to the musical compositions of Mogadishu as far as this lady is concerned: from now on I’ll be working out to the Ovaltineys.